Associations of Plasma and Fecal Metabolites with Body Mass Index and Body Fat Distribution in Children

Zhen Hong; Kejun Zhou; Yuanhuan Wei; Bingjie Ma; Guoxiang Xie; Zheqing Zhang; Jingjing Liang

doi:10.1210/clinem/dgae296

Associations of Plasma and Fecal Metabolites with Body Mass Index and Body Fat Distribution in Children

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2024 May 4:dgae296. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgae296. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhen Hong¹, Kejun Zhou², Yuanhuan Wei³, Bingjie Ma⁴, Guoxiang Xie², Zheqing Zhang¹, Jingjing Liang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510145, China.
² Human Metabolomics Institute, Inc., Shenzhen, 518109, China.
³ Department of Clinical Nutrition, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, 518052, China.
⁴ Department of Child Health Care, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Guangzhou, 510623, China.

PMID: 38703096
DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgae296

Abstract

Context: Childhood obesity continues to be a critical public health concern with far-reaching implications for the well-being.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between metabolites in plasma and feces and indicators including body mass index (BMI), BMI for age Z score (BMIZ), and body fat distribution among children aged 6-9 years in China.

Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 424 healthy children, including 186 girls and 238 boys. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to determine the body fat content and regional fat distribution. Plasma and fecal metabolites were analyzed using targeted metabolomic technologies.

Results: A total of 200 plasma metabolites and 212 fecal metabolites were accurately quantified via ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). By using Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) and random forest model, we discovered that 9 plasma metabolites and 11 fecal metabolites were associated with different weight statuses. After adjusting for potential covariates and false discovery rate (FDR) correction, multiple linear regression analyses revealed that plasma metabolites (fumaric acid, glycine, l-glutamine, methylmalonic acid, and succinic acid) and fecal metabolites (protocatechuic acid) were negatively associated (β: -1.373--0.016, pFDR: <0.001-0.031; β: -1.008--0.071, pFDR: 0.005-0.033), while plasma metabolites (isovaleric acid, isovalerylcarnitine, l-glutamic acid, and pyroglutamic acid) and fecal metabolites (3-aminoisobutanoic acid, butyric acid, N-acetylneuraminic acid, octanoylcarnitine, oleoylcarnitine, palmitoylcarnitine, stearoylcarnitine, taurochenodesoxycholic acid, and taurodeoxycholic acid) exhibited positive associations with BMI, BMIZ, and body fat distribution (β: 0.023-2.396, pFDR: <0.001; β: 0.014-1.736, pFDR: <0.001-0.049).

Conclusion: Plasma and fecal metabolites such as glutamine may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the development of obesity.

Keywords: Body fat distribution; Body mass index; Children; Fecal metabolites; Plasma metabolites.

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